Many women use formaldehyde to straighten their hair. It turns out that many of them are unaware of the risk that this substance can pose to their health.
Formaldehyde is an old acquaintance of women who go to beauty salons to straighten their hair. The chemical product that is used to straighten hair is actually banned by the National Health Surveillance Agency – Anvisa.
It turns out that to straighten it is necessary to use a considerable amount of the product. Which can be harmful to health. The permitted amount is up to 0.2% of the composition. However, in this quantity, it is not possible to obtain a smooth thread. That is why the product, within this measure, is used as a preservative.
The true function of formaldehyde
As you may already know, formaldehyde did not appear or was designed for aesthetic purposes. In fact, its main function is to conserve. Bodies have been preserved in formaldehyde for some time, for study and analysis purposes. In fact, that’s how it was discovered that it could straighten hair.
The scientists who studied the corpses noticed that their hair remained smooth after being covered in the substance. Once the discovery was made, it didn’t take long for it to reach beauty salons.
How formaldehyde works
Basically, formaldehyde enters our hair and destroys its structure, “breaking” the original shape and this is what makes the hair straight. However, don’t think that the product’s trajectory in your body ends there.
The substance doesn’t just affect the hair and scalp. The throat, nose, trachea and bronchi are also affected. We’ll tell you a little more below.
Harms of formaldehyde
The procedure common to all of these, which aims to straighten the hair, generally involves the use of a straightener. It turns out that when this stage of the procedure begins, the heat transforms the formaldehyde into vapor. Initially, this causes eye irritation, the eye vessels dilate and even chemical conjunctivitis can occur.
But this vapor doesn’t stop there, it also reaches the nose, which suffers a small inflammation and may even begin to produce a liquid secretion. After entering the respiratory system, formaldehyde vapor also affects the trachea and pharynx. Coughing may be your body’s response, a way of trying to push this gas out.
Remember we talked about using formaldehyde to preserve bodies? This is because the substance essentially mummifies cells. Basically, all the water is removed from the cell and it dies, but its characteristics are preserved. All this action on our scalp can cause allergies and even burns.
And as if that weren’t enough, the substance is also considered highly carcinogenic. This is because it can cause anomalies and mutations in DNA.
If I can’t use formaldehyde, how can I straighten my hair?
Don’t worry, not all straighteners are just formaldehyde. In fact, there are several others on the market that have the same result and that are not as harmful to your health. Straighteners based on thioglycolic acid, sodium hydroxide, calcium, lithium or guanidine are released by Anvisa.
Even so, you must always pay attention to the formula of these products. It may be that some of them use formaldehyde as a preservative. In these cases, be aware of the maximum amount allowed, which is 0.2%.
Did you like this article? Then you’ll also like this one: Hair cauterization, what is it? What is it for, risks, how to do it at home.
Source: Health, Health.
Featured image: Carreira Beauty
